Thread: Immigration Dilemma: A Mother Torn From a Baby

Sob story alert.

Originally Posted by Populist

Sob story alert.

Indeed! Don't you just get sick of it? There are many American women who give birth in prison and are eventually separated from their babies. I have yet to see an article or hear of groups fighting for the release of these women. Why should these IA criminals be any different?

If they are going to make special provisions for IA mothers, they should do the same for legal citizens who are arrested for non-violent crimes. This is a travesty.

[quoteIn cases where the breast-feeding children were United States citizens and entitled to public services, Ms. Myers urged the officers to seek assistance from social agencies to “maintain the unity of the mother and child.â€

I am so NOT moved by this story. First of all, a 9-month-old baby can do just fine without breasfeeding. Second, WE'RE not the bad guys here....the mother is. She broke the law and came into this country illegally. She should have thought of that before she had children here.

Originally Posted by americangirl

I am so NOT moved by this story. First of all, a 9-month-old baby can do just fine without breasfeeding. Second, WE'RE not the bad guys here....the mother is. She broke the law and came into this country illegally. She should have thought of that before she had children here.

DITTO

I am sick and tired of being blamed for their actions. I am not the heartless one, the parent who knowingly and willingly put that child in that position is the heartless one.

She should not have been here in the first place. She should not have had a baby - probably paid for by American workers.

Now when confronted by the police, she could simply have agreed to 'deport' herself and take her baby with her. Surely if she had done that, they could have put her and the baby on the first bus to Mexico.

Nov. 22, 2007, 1:12AM
Deported mom spurred changes in arrest guidelines for immigrant families
Outcry erupted after nursing baby was taken away


By ROBERT L. SMITH
Newhouse News Service

CLEVELAND — Sayda Umanzor was powerless to prevent her deportation, but the shy and illiterate mother from Honduras has had a forceful impact on how federal agents enforce U.S. immigration laws.

Umanzor, an illegal immigrant who garnered international attention when she was separated from her breastfeeding baby, left Wednesday on an early flight from Hopkins International Airport. She left the country with her husband, Marcus Antonio Bejarano, also an illegal immigrant from Honduras, and the couple's three young children, two of whom are U.S.-born citizens.

The couple headed back to the slums of Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, which they left about five years ago.

In a few brief weeks, the family came to illustrate the complexity of immigration arrests and the traumatic role that children often play during an era of stepped-up enforcement.

On Oct. 26, Sayda Umanzor — who sometimes spells her first name Saida — was arrested at home in Conneaut, northeast of Cleveland. Immigration agents, working in conjunction with Ashtabula County Sheriff's deputies, came with a warrant for her brother-in law, who also lived in the house.

The federal agents determined that Umanzor, 27, had been ordered deported in July 2006, after missing an immigration court hearing. They arrested her as a federal fugitive.

Caseworkers for the Ashtabula County Children Services Board arrived to take custody of Umanzor's two children at home, as well as the three children of her sister, also an illegal immigrant, who was at work. A crying Umanzor handed over her 9-month-old baby, Brittany.

At Bedford Heights Jail, Umanzor said her breasts became painfully engorged with milk. Brittany, suddenly without mother's milk, cried incessantly and refused baby formula for days, Dahlberg said.

Dahlberg, the executive director of Hispanic Organizations of Lake and Ashtabula, notified the La Leche League and other women's health groups of the family's plight. More than two dozen women put their names on a letter to Julie Myers, the chief of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arguing it was inhumane to separate a nursing mother from her baby.

The letter coincided with local and worldwide media coverage. Myers acted swiftly. Umanzor came home Nov. 6, after 11 days in jail, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. That same day, immigration agents and field supervisors nationwide received guidelines instructing them to show greater consideration when arresting parents of young children and to avoid jailing nursing mothers unless they pose a serious risk to society.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 21585.html

Looks like another reason to do away with the anchor baby program .. The baby could have gone back with them.
No Sympathy here .. They did wrong !!!

[quote="butterbean"][quoteIn cases where the breast-feeding children were United States citizens and entitled to public services, Ms. Myers urged the officers to seek assistance from social agencies to “maintain the unity of the mother and child.â€

Thanks for the update, Jean!

She left the country with her husband, Marcus Antonio Bejarano, also an illegal immigrant from Honduras, and the couple's three young children, two of whom are U.S.-born citizens.

GOOD RIDDANCE!